ANAMOSA — Holding visiting Center Point-Urbana scoreless through the game’s first five minutes of play Friday, January 11, was just the beginning for the Anamosa girls basketball team, who used that rock solid defense to go with timely offense to roll to a big 47-29 WaMaC Conference triumph.

“We gave up only single digits in three of the four quarters,” said Raider girls basketball coach Jack Leighty. “When you get that kind of defense, it’s going to make winning a lot easier. Add to that we played well on the boards and made some shots and gradually pulled away from Center Point-Urbana all game long.”

Anamosa (5-6, 4-5) led 7-0 after five minutes of play before the Pointers scored their first basket of the contest with a mere three minutes left in the opening frame.

“We held them scoreless, but we weren’t exactly lighting up the scoreboard either,” said Leighty as his team led 12-5 after the first eight minutes of play. “We finally got rolling a bit at the end of the first quarter and then just gradually kept it going the rest of the way.”

Kayla Sanborn and Paige Goetz attacked the Center Point-Urbana defense in the opening quarter and went right to the hoop time and again.

“That was part of the plan,” said Leighty. “We always like to be aggressive, and we always like to attack when we can, and we did that against CP-U.”

Goetz and Sanborn each scored seven points in the opening half as the Raiders again used sensational effort on the defensive end and again added timely offense to build a 25-10 halftime advantage.

“There’s no doubt defense was the key to this win,” said Leighty. “We held the Pointers to only two field goals in the entire first half. That’s something I’m not sure I’ve ever seen before, but we sure made things tough on CP-U’s offense. They didn’t get too many good looks at the basket, and the ones they did get, they usually missed.”

The Pointers made a mini-run at the Raiders in the third quarter and closed to within 11 points, but Anamosa entered the fourth quarter with a 38-25 advantage.

“Offensively, we were consistent until the fourth quarter,” said Leighty. “Then we were stuck on 40 points for five minutes. Thankfully, CP-U couldn’t score either.”

WYOMING — History was made in Wyoming Thursday, January 10, as the Midland wrestling team hosted Lisbon and North Cedar with Eagle Spencer Bowen becoming one of the very few Eagles in the long history of the program to join the 100-win club.

Bowen used a 56-second pin triumph over North Cedar’s Ethan Lawrence at 135-pounds to post his 100th career win scoring six of Midland’s 14 points in a 60-14 setback against the Knights.

Six Eagle wrestlers took to the mat with Bowen, Jake Reilly and Cory Rains all coming through with wins on the mat in front of the home crowd.

Rains defeated North Cedar’s Brandon Bents in a thrilling 9-7 final in a 189-pound match.

Reilly cruised past Matt Millan at 112-pounds as the hosts went 3-3 against the Knights in the 54-point defeat as Midland was forced to yield eight forfeits.

Midland’s Katlin Marr, Nick Shirley and Larry Ehlers also took to the mat in the match and were handed pin losses.

Against Lisbon, the Eagles were handed a 60-12 defeat with the two lone Midland wins coming as forfeits to Shirley and Ehlers at 215-pounds and heavyweight, respectively.

Midland made a trip to compete at the MFL Mar-Mac Invitational Saturday, January 12 with Bowen finishing second overall at 135 pounds.

ANAMOSA — Slowing a high-octane Central DeWitt offense over the game’s first 16 minutes Tuesday, January 8, had the Anamosa boys basketball team right where they wanted to be against the visiting No. 9 ranked team in class 3A.

“This is the second straight game we have had a really good defensive effort the first half and then fall apart in the second,” said Raider boys basketball coach Kevin Barnes as his team led 20-18 at the half against the Sabers but watched as Central DeWitt scored a whopping 43 second half points to take a 61-52 final over a stunned Anamosa team. “We just did not get out on their shooters in the second half and when we finally did, they would score inside.”

When Lenny Rhomberg drilled a long 3-pointer at the halftime horn, the basket handed the hosts a 20-18 lead, but it would be short-lived.

The Sabers attacked relentlessly in the third quarter and started connecting on shots from all over the floor in scoring 21 points in the eight-minute span.

While the Sabers were sizzling, the Raiders were reeling scoring just nine points in the same span and entered the fourth quarter on the short end of a 39-29 score.

“Central DeWitt was tough to defend going 14-of-19 shooting in the second half and going 6-of-8 from three-point land,” said Barnes. “But that wasn’t even my concern. My concern was our energy level. I think it has dropped coming out of the locker room both games after Christmas and that is unacceptable.”

The Sabers continued to roll in the final frame as well taking as much as a 14-point lead before a late Raider rally had the visitors sweating to the finish.

Anamosa (4-6, 3-4) closed to within eight points late in the game as Kurt Vavricek, Tony Lueken, Rhomberg and Colten Kelly hit key shots. But with Kale Holst leading the Sabers hitting several clutch shots and with Kramer Steffens sealing the Raiders’ fate with key charity stripe shots, Anamosa could not pull off the miraculous comeback.

“Offensively we probably saw what we’re going to see the rest of the season, teams doing whatever they can to take Colten away,” said Barnes. “When that happens you have to have others step up and I thought we really showed signs of that. Skyler hit a big three early in the game and Lenny hit a huge three going into the locker room. Kurt had some nice buckets too.”

Right now though, defense is clearly an issue. We need to be better defensively.”